The Body Sacred

By Dianne Sylvan

When you look in the mirror, do you see a Goddess? For anyone who's experienced a "fat day" or wished a doctor could make them younger, Wiccan Dianne Sylvan speaks candidly about overcoming body hatred and offers a spiritual path back to Divine femininity. Sharing her own struggles with poor body image and self-acceptance, Sylvan explores how the impossible standard of female beauty has developed and endured. Emphasizing the Mother, the Healer, the Lover, and other archetypes of one's relationship with the sacred body, the author provides a uniquely Wiccan approach to achieving a healthy, new self-perception as Goddess. Praise: "This topical guide to reclaiming a positive self-image, which builds on foundations presented in Sylvan's earlier work and is written in a very personal and approachable style, is not imbued with self-help jargon and platitudes but with the author's hard-won self-respect and perspective."-- Library Journal "Marrying cultural critique with user-friendly how-to, [Sylvan] urges readers to reject society's insistence that they spend countless hours and billions of dollars trying to look thin and youthful. Rather, says Sylvan, women should embrace their bodies for what they are--incarnations of the Goddess. Above all, this book is practical... What distinguishes this book more than anything is Sylvan's sense of humor--she's tackling a serious topic, but she'll have readers laughing from page one."-- Publishers Weekly

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738707619
• ISBN13: 9780738707617
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Worth the Read, just be aware of some weird moments

Written in the early 00s, the Body Sacred is definitely a product of its time. The quippy humor throughout the book gets old pretty quick, and I felt it was unnecessary as the author's narrative voice is already personal and warm. Sylvan says a lot of really great things, and I think they're very foundational necessary things to say. It was cool reading a book that centered Wiccan, especially within the archetype psych/philosophy sphere; it was in alignment with what I've been thinking and feeling and seeing in my own life. Highly recommended for folks of any spiritual path, especially young women. The Sacred Body fosters independence and empowerment. Edit to add: there's a few moments where I feel Sylvan misses the mark. This book was necessary for it's time and the conversation is still important today, but Sylvan sometimes sounds like she's playing the victim- in the first chapter she talks about how being fat is every comedian's punchline, and says that it's "okay" to be fatphobic in our society, but it's not okay to be racist. It's such a moot point to make because it's not okay to be either of those things, but the way she talked about it I was like, "Has she never talked to a Black person before? Why is she acting like our society saves Black folks from racism because it is "not okay"? I just felt like she mishandles skinny women and race, but she was able to objectively speak on her traumas with men (which, great) and it was obvious she put a lot of care into her research about beauty standards.... I just wish that same depth was put into all of it. Do I think that folks shouldnt read this? No, but I think it's important to have these conversations for learning opportunities. And I think it's important to be aware of some of the odd stuff happening in the pages, so that folks can make decisions best suited for themselves. The body sacred is a good start for the overall conversation about body politics and such, and it walked so our conversations today could run.

I give this book 5 pentacles and it's worth it

The Body Sacred is an amazing book which should be on every Wiccan's/Pagan's bookshelf. This is a book in which so many readers can relate. I thought, "OMGoddess, she's writing MY story, MY thoughts, answering all MY questions, and she is doing it with a wonderful sense of humor!" I recommend this book to everyone.

Dianne Sylvan's books are wonderful!

An excellent book! Like Ms. Sylvan's other book "The Circle Within", this book is well researched, easy to understand, and thought provoking. I love her books!

FINALLY!

My spirituality can have humor in it! Thank Goddess for that! I love how approachable Dianne Sylvan makes her books and the material she so genuinely shares with her readers. She honestly conveys her ideas and experiences in a way that is easily identified with and reminds us all of the potential our paths hold once we make peace with the idea of perfection. She is a true daughter of The Great Weaver, herself expertly weaving a series of cords between our bodies and our minds that supports the kind of spiritual growth every advancing Pagan woman needs. Her ideas are simple in their truth and reality, but this is not a book that will leave you bored. On the contrary! I haven't felt so alive with potential or so certain of my direction in life as I have after picking up this book. It's so much more than just a new age book on feeling and living a spiritual life, though it does live up to that promise. She shows you, in real life terms, how to make your body your altar and she does it without coming across preachy or assuming. It's truly like sitting down with your best friend.

Our Inner Goddess

This book is so important to women of all ages and shapes. Dianne Sylvan demonstrates how we are pelted by media with impossible body standards. She reminds us to love ourselves despite our imperfections because we are Goddesses in our own right. She explains that self-love has to come so that we may enjoy our bodies to their full potential and do the work of God and Goddess.

Can I give it more than 5??

This book is amazing. It will make you laugh, cry, and most of all think, To be given the tools to look within and see your Inner Goddess is truly the gift of the world. This book has changed my life! Thank the Goddess for Dianne Sylvan for putting her self out there and allowing us to see the real her and the real Goddess that is in all of us. The rituals are moving,the meditations are beautiful. I will recommend this book to every woman that I come across, it is truly time for the revolution.